Spindle Identification

[19seventeeCustom]

Hey guys.

I recently bought a truck and trashed a wheel bearing along with my spindle. So I thought the truck came with 73-87 drop spindles since it had been converted to disc brakes some point in time.

The rotors were 1" rotors, anyway I ordered a set of 73-87 drop spindles and the ball joint holes were way to large. So i thought I could just buy 73-87 ball joints along with a tie rod end. Well the 73-87 tie rod end was way bigger than what was on the truck and would not work unless I changed out the corresponding components of the steering to match. So I sent those back an have 71-72 spindles on the way, but recently went to a salvage yard and picked up a 72 truck spindle and even it is different than whats on my truck, the spindle shaft has a bigger diamater and the ball joint pads were much thicker along with the ball joint holes being almost to small to pull the ball joint all the way into.

SOOOO... Im at a loss for words as to what spindle I have,, can somebody please give me light, my truck has been on jackstand for 3 weeks because of this......

thanks in advance
aaron

[my67c20]

Well i feel your pain. I am in the process of a complete front suspension rebuild. I measured the sizes of the spindle for hte balljoints. See this thread. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?p=3770817 for the record 72 3/4 stuff fits.

[19seventeeCustom]

thanks, my spindle looks very similar to yours,, can you provide me with a number on your spindle?

[19seventeeCustom]

anyone else, have any suggestions?

[john]

If you have 71-72 spindles on the way ,you can use a 71-72 center link and then use the 71-72 tie rod ends and everything will match. Depending on what wheel brgs you have. Alot of the older aftermarket parts did not match with OEM stuff.

[PanelDeland]

You could clean and look the bad spindle over carefully for a Part #.There should be one stamped into it.Possibly even a manufacturers name.

[my67c20]

Unfortunatly i can't get you a number as the wheels and stuff is back together. What i had to do because i was unsure of what the PO used was i took the spindle to autozone and made the counter clown keep getting me parts until i found something that worked. Problem was everthing that worked they never had 2 of. I bought all new tie rods, idler arms from O'Reilly and the ball joints from LMC. The wheel seals from autozone and my old bearing were still in great shape. I can honestly say O'Reilly is my autoparts store of choice.

[19seventeeCustom]

well guys thanks for the advice,,,,I have a small update

71-72 spindles dont work
73-87 spindles dont work

So I either have later than 87 spindles or I have car spindles on the truck.
There is a number stamped on the spindle that Im going to use at the Dealership tomorrow. Does anybody know if car spindles would work on a truck?

The arm that bolts to the tie rod has a larger bend to it than any other spindle Ive seen thus far,, so who knows???? I guess thats what happens when you dont build something yourself

[CSGAS]

Many companies make aftermarket spindles to convert earlier trucks to use later disc brakes with the stock early ball joints. Unless they've stamped or cast their name into the part it's a guessing game.

I do feel ya--firsthand--on the Autozone pain. Turns out they are hiring now based on what ethics the applicant claims to have, not on experience or job history.

[sinned4me]

What bolt pattern are the wheels? I found one truck in the wrecking yard that had 5 on 4.75" bolt pattern rotors on it. Ended up having a mix of s-10 and GM metric car stuff on it. It was in the yard for front end damage so I would say CAR BRAKES ARE NOT ADEQUITE. You should check that as it is a great time to upgrade.

[sinned4me]

What numbers are on your bearings? I may find some time to research at work and they seem to be an easy start.

[19seventeeCustom]

hey guys,, quick update. It seems the spindles are off a mid seventies car. Last night I started wondering about it, so I took the hub assembly that I had bought for a 73-87 truck and tried to fit it in my wheel, and guess what??? Ive got 5x 4.75" bolt pattern wheels lol

Heading to a junkyard now, the gentleman has been working with me and he says he found what its off of and has a replacement part for me. who knows???

[sinned4me]

Car brakes are not adequite.

[19seventeeCustom]

well I guess I'll go ahead an update, since it may help others in the future. I went to the junkyard and got a spindle of an early model monte carlo and It looks identical to what I have as well as the casting number being exactly the same. Soo.... It seems that finally I have located the mystery spindle.

sinned4me,, seems to me the brakes were working/stopping just fine before the bearings went out. I cant imagine the disk brakes in the front being worse than the factory front drum brakes lol